In this pastor’s message we will look at the ninth commandment; “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20). Once again, I would like us all to consider this commandment from the principle found in Luke 16:10 (NLT): “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”
God's indictment of Israel in Hosea 4:2 lists the sixth through ninth commandments, and its language suggests that Israelites understood this ninth commandment to cover all untruths: "By swearing (falsely) and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed after bloodshed." The Hebrew word for "lying" here is kāḥaš, which means "to deceive, lie, fail, be untrue, deny, dissemble, deal falsely." This wide breadth of meanings covers the gamut of ways people have found to deceive others. Coupling it with "swearing (falsely)," God includes both legal and commonplace lying in His censure.
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament comments on kāḥaš: "The Hebrew usage seems to stress the relational aspect of the word, emphasizing the undependable nature of a person or thing in a given relationship." Feeding this emphasis back into the ninth commandment—the only one in the Decalogue that includes the phrase "against your neighbor". God's intent in prohibiting lying is to enhance trust within a community, as such this commandment covers any wrongful word or example that would tend to injure another. Leviticus 6:2: “If a person sins and commits a trespass against the LORD by lying to his neighbor ….” Lying—dishonesty and deceitfulness are the most common sins that destroys trust and relationships.
The ninth commandment is in a similar position in man’s relationship to other men as the third commandment is in man’s relationship to God. This commandment directly involves faithfulness and loyalty in all our speech and communications. As it is designed to address all forms of untruthfulness, in spirit it also is intended to prevent gossip, slander and any perversion of justice. Slander is deceptive, destructive by it’s nature, and devious. Simply stated, God hates slander. According to James 3:15-16, the practice of slander is demonic. People who engage in slandering other people are being led by demons—not the Spirit of God. Remember we saw in the previous commandment that you can steal “a good name”, which is priceless (Proverbs 22:1; Ecclesiastes 7:1). The destruction of a good reputation through gossip and slander can be as tragic as a murder. The murder of Jesus was actually accomplished through slander! Note that Satan (Greek: satanas) means adversary and devil (Greek: diabolos) means accuser or slanderer. Rather than stealing a person’s reputation by slander, we should guard people’s reputation.
Negative gossip is a type of slander. Even when stating something that is factually true, if it might injure a person’s reputation it is likely something God desires that we avoid. Rather than sharing and receiving slanderous talk about others, we should reject it and correct the person slandering others. A loose tongue is a deadly weapon—one that Satan rejoices in using (James 3:5-12). Consider as God told Moses and the Israelites: “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. … “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23:1-2, 6-8).
What does God hate? This is a good question to ask at times—because the Lord actually lists for us seven different things that He hates. “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). Of those seven abominations, notice how many relate to the Ninth Commandment!
Lying, dishonesty and all deceitfulness pervert and corrupt hearts, harm relationships and are abominations to God. He is a God of truth, meaning He is unswervingly faithful; and He wants us to speak the truth in love. When a tongue is a lying tongue, God hates the lies that come from it. Truth opposes lies at every turn—and we can be assured that God opposes the liar as shown in Proverbs 12:22. “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight”.
Hypocrisy—living a lie also violates the intent of this commandment. There are different forms of hypocrisy. One type is putting on a good facade that doesn’t match up with what is on the inside. Another type is being two-faced, putting on an act to impress or influence whomever you are with at the time. One of the worst types of hypocrisy relates to the Third Commandment—claiming to represent God while not upholding godly attitudes and actions. Think of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). It seems the sin of religious hypocrisy disgusted and infuriated God more than anything else! (See Matthew 15:1-20; 23:1-39 and Mark 7:1-23.)
Many may not think of this in relation to this commandment however even flattery is deceitful. Psalm 12:2-3 “Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. May the LORD cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues” Psalm 78:36-37 adds: “Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.” Proverbs 26:28 indicates further that, “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” (see also Psalm 62:4)
There are many ways this commandment is violated in letter and in spirit and they all stem from the heart, God says in Isaiah 29:13-15 "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden." Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; they say, "Who sees us?" and "Who knows us?" This charge against Israel is to a people so insensitive to God and truth that they are blind to dishonesty’s destructive power. Isaiah 59 is a prophecy of the terrible lack of justice and truth-telling in the world.
At the foundation of this problem of lying is a deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9) that continually lays traps to make lying an appealing course to follow. We can’t fall into Satan’s trap. It’s important to fully recognize we've (under Satan’s influence) created a world where truthfulness does not always get you ahead. Society often rewards deception, and it’s common to excuse “little white lies”, or even tell societal one’s (Christmas—how many parents routinely lie to their children during a time supposedly pointing people to Christ?)
“Lying is found everywhere in everyday life. People lie in roughly 20% of their social interactions” (DePaulo & Kashy, 1998). Has anything changed since 1998? Dishonesty in our society has corrupted everything! Relentlessly pouring fuel on the fire of human nature is the “ruler of this world,” the “Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” and is “the accuser of our brethren” (John 12:31; Revelation 12:9-10). Jesus said Satan is “a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). Lying “gives the devil a foothold” in our lives (Ephesians 4:25-27, NIV).
The ease with which we (in society) can mislead one another and the prevalence of lying make every aspect of dishonesty an element of our society that is not to be ignored. And it’s is not going away until Christ sets up His Kingdom on Earth. Many people have gone beyond being immoral—they have become amoral, their consciences no longer discerning between right and wrong. Paul describes them as “speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2). A liar can very easily become a chronic liar, a compulsive liar or even a psychopathic liar. Proverbs 26:18-19 says, "Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, ‘I was only joking.’" These two verses begin a section largely devoted to illustrating the fruits of lying. They might be better translated as, "A man who deceives his neighbor and disguises his deception as a joke is as dangerous as a madman shooting arrows at a crowd. Someone will surely get hurt." Lying is never a joke, and someone always gets hurt. Lying is sin and sin brings death.
Proverbs 26:23-25 adds: "Fervent lips with a wicked heart are like earthenware covered with silver dross. He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself; when he speaks kindly, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart." The proverbs from here to the end of the chapter primarily involve hypocrisy. Lying lips create a false sense of security and cunningly hide the reality of a deception that will bring loss and pain.
God warns all of us in this section of scripture, "A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin." (Proverbs 26:28) Clearly, lying is an act of hatred (which God equates with murder). It is so bad that it can bring ruin to those it is used against, and like a boomerang, it will return to destroy those who employ it. That’s something we need to keep in mind—remembering the principle on faithfulness we started with. How does any lie or deceitfulness enhance trust in a community?
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13 Many scriptures speak of the power of the tongue for either healing or harm. James 3 is all about the tongue. It describes it as “a fire, a world of iniquity” and “an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (verses 6 and 8). Deliberate deception is certainly a deadly poison. People think their lies will go undetected and unpunished, but sins are “against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Jesus said “that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).The Bible gives us stern warning that “all [unrepentant] liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
David writes in Psalm 15:1-5 “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; he who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change; he who does not put out his money to usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.” The person who has these qualifications most certainly will be heard. In him is no false way at all, no pretense, no deceit, no gossip, no guile, and no hypocrisy.
We know Satan is the father of lies, notice this vivid contrast in Deuteronomy 32:1-4 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” For us that’s the standard we compare ourselves too, and what we reach for.
The spirit of the Ninth Commandment goes so further than simply forbidding lying and deceitfulness. As God’s children, our every thought, word and action should be trustworthy, even the way we handle God’s word must be faithful (see 2 Corinthians 4:1-2). As Jesus taught in the sermon on the Mount: “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37). God wants us to replace lying with honesty in our thought’s, words, and actions. And that requires a change in our heart, to where only the love of truth must reside there.
Consider, Jesus when He walked on the Earth did not just tell the truth, He embodied it; it resided fully in His heart. And like with all of us, out of the abundance of His heart His mouth spoke—only truth. He put the truth of God and His plan of salvation into a visible, concrete form so all who so desire could see it.
"Truth" in John 17:17 is the Greek word aletheia, which means "reality, the manifested, unconcealed essence of a matter." God’s entire plan is based on the premise that the converted know that God is true. If He is not true to His Word or to His own way of life, how can He be trusted? We must live by faith in this true “Self Sufficient” Being and in what He says! Keeping this commandment begins with not letting our deceitful heart trick us into doing anything less than what is honest and true in God’s sight. Our responsibility from this commandment is to diligently strive to manifest truth in all aspects of our life as He did.
Truth forms the basis, the foundation, the reality, of a person’s conversion. The apostle Paul's instructions about lying in Ephesians 4:25 again center on the harm it does to relationships, particularly in the church: “putting away lying” and “speaking the truth in love” for “the edifying of the body of Christ” (verses 25, 15, 12). As he explains in Romans 13:9-10, the final six of the Ten Commandments "are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
May we always seek the truth and speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). May we always study God’s Word to learn and live by the standards revealed in God’s absolute Truth. And may we more fully imitate the One who is “the way, the Truth, and the life” (John 14:6).